English Linguistic Hegemony: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Language Use of the British Council and the American University of Afghanistan in the Promotion of English

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A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Language Use of the British Council and the Ameri-can University of Afghanistan in the Promotion of English

Marina Zaffari Bachelor Thesis

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Abstract

Post 9/11, Afghanistan emerged as the new context for discourses about modernization and globalization. All of a sudden, English became an important language and a key for Af-ghanistan’s prosperous future. As a result, English has gained an extraordinary role in less than twenty years. Two main agencies are providing ELT programs in the country. This paper studies the language that the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) and the British Council use in their written publications to promote English Language Teaching (ELT).The purpose of the present study is twofold. On the one hand, it outlines some common discourses of English and on the other hand, it examines, critically, how those discourses have patterns and signs of Linguistic Imperialism. To this end, I apply a combination of two focal approaches towards Critical Dis-course analysis, namely the DisDis-course-Historical Approach and socio-cognitive approach to find out how English is legitimized, glorified, and rationalized in Kabul through discourse. The find-ings will be interpreted in the light of theories of Linguistic Imperialism developed by Robert Phillipson (1992) and Alastair Pennycook (1998) as well as Van Dijk’s principles for analyzing ideology. By providing evidence from a new context, this study can contribute to debates over the phenomenon of Global English.

Key words: Linguistic Imperialism (LI), Language Promotion, Critical Discourse analysis

(CDA), Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA), Sociocognitive approach (SCA), English Lin-guistic Hegemony (ELH)

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Chapter One: Introduction

New social processes and change give rise to “new discourses” (Fariclough, 2011, p.213). In some contexts, change can be sudden and radical. Afghanistan, more specifically Kabul, wit-nessed such changes after the military intervention of the United States post 9/11 attacks. Dis-courses of globalization traveled there after the regime change. Political and social changes were sudden and radical; in few months, values such as democracy, human rights, and freedom of speech were imported. Fariclough (2001) refers to ‘globalization’ as an “ideological discourse of change” which he directly links to the rise of ‘global language’ — ‘global English’. As expected, teaching and learning English was prioritized to make the country ready to take part in the glob-alized world. Two main English language agencies, the British Council and the American Em-bassy in Afghanistan, took this responsibility. The latter even established the first English medi-um university called the America University of Afghanistan (AUAF). Right now, English has taken over as the only foreign language taught in schools and promoted strongly by the US Em-bassy and British Council as a key component of nation-building process superseding the role of Persian and Pashto languages. It happens in the absence of a logical connection between devel-opment and the English language while knowing that it might adversely affect the state of tion in peripheries of Kabul where Persian and Pashto still remains the only medium of educa-tion.

Fariclough (2001) sees such radical and sudden changes in a certain society in itself as “the root of problems”. This view makes Afghanistan a perfect context for the emergence of dis-courses about globalization and the English language. This very idea serves as the initial motiva-tion for the current study too. A second motivamotiva-tion for conducting this research was my personal fascination with the critical study of language and discourse, especially when the power of it in directing thoughts and actions is completely taken for granted. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is used to analyze discourses of English in the publication of these organizations. As an analytical framework that set critique at the forefront of its objectives, CDA deems the critical study of language —especially in the face of great changes and transformations — very signifi-cant. This paper argues that an uncritical acceptance of English or any other international lan-guage might have negative consequences, thus should be confronted on the basis of theoretical and empirical studies.

The phenomenon of English as a global language became the subject of criticism in the 1990s. Two seminal works that appear in this period were Linguistic Imperialism and English

and Discourses of Colonialism written by Phillipson (1992) and Pennycook (1998) respectively.

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language diffusion was considered a natural process. Both authors claim that the modern promo-tion of English by its agencies resembles the promopromo-tion and consolidapromo-tion of English during the colonial period with respect to their argumentation schemes, claims, and the construction of im-ages that may have ideological implications. Phillipson pays a special attention to the activities of the British Council and some US organizations that teach English. It is argued that the main motive behind their establishment was not only the teaching English, but also the consolidation of its dominance for political and economic reasons.

Furthermore, these authors study and analyze the language use of a large number of his-torical documents to find out how English was promoted in the past, what was English associated with and why. Phillipson concludes that three types of arguments dominated the promotion of English which revolved around what English is, what English has and what English does. He adds that except the second type, the two other types are most of the time fallacious and easily challengeable. Likewise, Pennycook (1998) pays particular attention to discourses of English that contain stereotypical East and West representation in binary oppositions. He claims that these traditional representations have continuity and are still used in discourses about English in the modern times. Most scholars relate English to Gramsci’s notion of hegemony. It is argued that hegemony as a concept assists the understanding of English as the international language (Macedo, Dendrinos, & Gounari, 2016; Tsuda, 2011; Yoo & Namkung 2012; Modiano, 2001; Nye, 1990).

Many studies emerged in the twenty-first century which provided empirical evidence for the dominance of English from various new contexts. For examples, studies in Bunce, Phillipson, Rapatahana, and Tupast (2016) testifies most of the claims and arguments made by Phillipson (1992). Studies in this book support the fact that English has hegemonic dominance in most of the former colonies and is being promoted based on a number of myths and fixed arguments. Many scholars criticize and even blame English agencies, especially the British Council, and other international organization for propagating English at the expense of local languages and for creating unequal access to education.

As mentioned before, the British Council and AUAF are actively promoting and provid-ing English teachprovid-ing programs and Western-style Education in Afghanistan. However, how they promote English is not explored yet. What patterns do they follow, what arguments they usually employ, and to what extent those arguments are valid? This thesis, therefore, examines the lan-guage use of the English lanlan-guage agencies to find out how are they legitimizing and justifying the role of English. Moreover, how they represent various social actors and what ideological im-plications it might have. Ultimately, I aim to find an answer to the following research question. Do texts published by the British Council and AUAF have any sign of Linguistic Imperialism? To answer this question, I will first outline discourses of English in their publications. Secondly,

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I will examine how those discourses are ideologically driven. To this purpose, I apply a combina-tion of two approaches of CDA on discourses of English languages in the publicacombina-tions of British Council, AUAF, BBC and VOA News.

This paper has the following structure: Chapter Two begins by describing three phases in the study of language spread. It goes on to explain the critical study of English in details by in-troducing key concepts and notions of LI followed by a description of the history of the agencies that promote English. This part also outlines important aspects crucial to the understanding of LI and back them up by citing additional academic sources. The special focus of this literature re-view is on the arguments and images used in the promotion of English and their growing sophis-tication in the neocolonial era.

The Third Chapter describes the theoretical framework employed to analyze the data. This part starts with a brief introduction to Critical Discourse analysis. Then, the two approaches that are preferred for this study, Discourse-Historical Approach and Socio-cognitive approach, are explained. This chapter also covers the explanations of the data collection the analysis proce-dures.

The Fourth Chapter presents the findings. It first outlines which nomination and predica-tion strategies were used in the texts to construct social actors, events, phenomena, and objects. Then, it describes the result of the argumentation strategies followed by the findings of strategies of perspectivization, intensification and mitigation. Each part is accompanied by quotation ex-amples in tables.

In Chapter five, I discuss my findings on the basis of the theories explained in Chapter Three and Four. Each part is interpreted separately. This part also presents context-specific in-formation about Afghanistan and its language and culture. Additionally, extra references present are presented to support any new claim that I make. This part finally explains how the propaga-tion of English in Afghanistan might indirectly serve the interest of the state. Moreover, it

demonstrates how English is starting to contribute to cultural and structural inequalities in Kabul and in the country at large. This section is followed by a brief conclusion in which I summarize the present study.

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Chapter Two: Literature Overview

2.1 The critical study of the phenomenon of Global English

As a special case of language spread, English has been widely studied by scholars in dif-ferent periods of time. García (2001) identifies three phases in the study of language spread; “the

beginning” (1970s-80s), “the critical period” (the 1990s), and “the postmodern period” (the

twenty-first century) (p. 399). Informed by the modernist schemes, scholars of the initial phase perceived language spread as a “natural phenomenon”. They advocated global language as a so-lution to problems stemming from diversity and multilingualism. However, works published in the critical period offer a critical evaluation of the English language spread focusing on the Eng-lish language expansion from the point of view of the critical theory. They study language spread in relation to race and class conflict from an anti-imperialist stance. Finally, in the twenty-first century, language spread is studied from a postmodernist perspective within the framework of language ecology, that is, the study of the interaction between language and environment. This paradigm ensures that language spread is always interpreted in relation to globalization and tech-nological advancements of the twenty-first century where individual agency is crucial to lan-guage spread (García, 2001). Admittedly, each phase’s definition of lanlan-guage spread, approach towards it, motives and theoretical framework differ from one another. Despite that, they are not mutually exclusive.

Linguistic Imperialism, written by Robert Phillipson (1992) marks the beginning of a new

phase in the studies of language spread called the critical period. Phillipson studies English in the light of Center-Periphery relationships by employing theories of imperialism. In this context, Center refers to the core-English speaking countries and Periphery refers to the former colonies of the British Empire where English was imposed. Unlike linguists who see language spread as a natural phenomenon, Phillipson believes that active forces caused the spread of English. Such systematic spread of English by particular bodies is seen by him as a sign of LI. LI is identified as a subtype of cultural imperialism in the neo-imperial era. In particular, English linguistic im-perialism (ELI) entails that “the dominance of English is asserted … by the establishment and continuous reconstitution of structural and cultural inequalities between English and other lan-guages” (p. 47). Phillipson asserts that the “Empire of English” has replaced the British Empire and now has continued to rule the world in new forms (p. 1). To study ELI, Phillipson employs a multidisciplinary theoretical approach from different academic disciplines. Some of them are so-ciolinguistic fields such as language spread, sociology of language, language planning, language

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pedagogy, and linguistic human rights. By doing so, he aims to answer the following fundamen-tal questions: how English is promoted; how the dominance of English is asserted; and finally what arguments are used to justify the position of English.

Another seminal work of the critical period is Pennycook (1998)’s English and the

Dis-courses of Colonialism in which he argues that colonial disDis-courses are still very much alive in

today’s promotion of English and the construction of language politics. He believes that the spread of English is the result of the empire. in two ways: Firstly, English was central to the de-velopment of the empire and secondly, it was “deeply interwoven with the discourses of colo-nialism” (p. 2). Like Phillipson, Pennycook also sees colonialism as a good context for studying discourses of English. To find evidence, Pennycook examines colonial documents from various contexts and from a range of different genres like travel and student writings, news articles, edu-cational policy reports and minutes.

The critical study of English does not end in the 1990s. Phillipson and Pennycook’s works inspired a number of scholars to question the role and dominance of English in the twenty-first century. A recent work edited by Bunce, Phillipson, Rapatahana, and Tupast (2016) is an attempt to provide evidence, both theoretical and empirical, to manifest the negative conse-quences of English’s hegemonic dominance. Evidence from various contexts collected mostly by the Periphery country researchers challenge the myths of English. According to the title of the book, Why English? Confronting the Hydra is inspired by a vice figure of Greek Mythology. Hy-dra, a serpent with several heads, is used as a metaphor to describe the current position of Eng-lish in the world. The book aims to advocate a mother-tongue-based multilingual approach to language education.

2.2. Language Promotion

Two main factors helped English gain its today’s status; the British Imperialism and the emergence of United States as the world new military and economic power after the World War II. This is one of the points on which the critics of the anti-imperialist readings of English (Crys-tal, 2003; Svartvik & Leech, 2006) also agree. Phillipson (1992) argues that English has become a dominant language for being directly promoted by these two world powers who shared the same language. Both were eager and had to find “platforms” for language promotion. Therefore organizations were established to meet the purpose. Phillipson sees the suppression of other lan-guages and the consolidation of English as the Great Britain’s official policy (p. 18). The British Council, founded in 1934, had political and commercial interests. Phillipson argues that its es-tablishment was a countermeasure for the propagandist activities of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in the Middle East, Latin America, and South Europe. Although the organization claims po-litical independence, Phillipson argues that it has been receiving funds from popo-litical bodies (p.

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141). The following quotation by the Prince of Wales at the official inauguration ceremony in 1995 clearly illustrates that the purpose of the establishment of the British council, indeed, was more than just teaching English.

“The basis of our work must be the English language… we are aiming at something more profound than just a smattering of our tongue. Our object to assist the largest number possible to appreci-ate fully the glories of our literature, our contribution to the arts and sciences and our pre-eminent contribution to political practice. This can be best achieved by promoting the study of our language abroad…” (as cited in Phillipson, 1992, p. 138).

These goals were emphasized in many other publications. For instance, The Diffusion of

English Culture Outside England: A Problem of Post-war Reconstruction, written by an adviser

to the British Council in 1941, pleaded for establishing English language and culture based on their own. He believed that this will make a whole new career for ‘linguistic missionaries’. The following quotation from Dorgohede Report Summary (1954), demonstrates the centrality of English and the British Council in the post-war British foreign policies.

“…we need to build up our export trade and to protect our overseas’s invest-ments, which are increasingly threatened by the extreme nationalism in many parts of the world. In our opinion, the Information Service can help in this re-gard by explaining our economic situation and commercial policies; by main-taining an atmosphere of good-will towards this country; and by increasing the use of English as the common language in the East … In the very long term, we have no doubt that the world of the British Council, especially in re-gards to the teaching of English in Asia will be highly beneficial to our over-seas trade” (as cited in Phillipson, 1992, p. 146).

English language promotion also constitutes an important component of the American global policy. Like Britain, the US has been promoting English, and through English their culture by a set of government and private organizations. Forty of such agencies were active in provid-ing educational aids in the 1960s. In 1964, the Peace Corps, a volunteer organization, had over 7.000 volunteers teaching English in different parts of the world. According to Mazuri (2016), the US promotion of English has caused even more inequalities globally. Yoo and Namkung (2012) demonstrate how the United States uses what Joseph Nye (1990) calls ‘soft powers’ as an instrument to dominate the world; teaching and testing English is their biggest instrument (p. 225).

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The two major powers started to coordinate on English teaching mission during the 1950s and 1960s. The result of their cooperation was the establishment of the English language teach-ing (ELT) projects. Their main goal was to find a place for English in the global education sys-tem. They claimed to have the expertise to solve the language learning problems worldwide. Both powers have promoted English by similar means employing similar strategies and benefited from it. This idea that native speakers of English have a monopoly over the language is rejected by Svartvik and Leech (2006). They assert that “native speakers [have lost] their proprietorship of English” after English had become the lingua franca (p. 232), thus “the native speaker no longer rules”(p. 236). This argument is problematic since organizations of the Center still func-tion as gatekeepers of English by being in charge of English language tests for instance.

2. 3. Arguments in English Linguistic Hegemony

Typical arguments are used to promote English in popular and academic discourses. Phillipson (1992) divides them into three categories, English-intrinsic arguments,

English-extrin-sic arguments and English-functional arguments. The first type of argument revolves around the

capacities of English or “what English is”. For instance, during the colonial times, English was seen as a noble and civilized language, the language of the Bible with a rich literature. The sec-ond type is about the resources or “what English has”. An example of this is the constant tenden-cy to give reference to English material resources such as libraries, books, teachers, and experts. Resources of English are glorified while resources from other languages are perceived unimpor-tant or made invisible. Phillipson notes English resources are the output of historical invest-ments. Therefore, inequality between the resources of English and other languages also exempli-fies imperialist patterns of development. Finally, the third type is all about “what English does”. English-functional arguments equate English with progress, modernity and attach important roles to it. Knowledge of English is seen as a gateway to all life facilities. Labels like ‘international language’, lingua franca, given to English is problematized by Phillipson. All three arguments together make English and its dominance very powerful and hegemonic.

Phillipson applies Gultung (1980)’s framework for analyzing power to study the domi-nance and power that the English language holds. He categorizes power in three types, innate,

resource, and structural power. Gultung uses ideas, carrots, and sticks as metaphors for each

type of power. The first type, ideas, operate through persuasion. For instance, persuading people about the intrinsic qualities and superiority of English. The second type, carrots, work through bargaining, that is, what one can get in return once they accept English. It may provide access to science and technology, a great civilization, modernity, and rationality. And the last type, sticks operate through explicit or implicit forces. Most arguments contain hidden threats about what

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will happen if one does not learn English. Such agreements single out that conflicts may be cre-ated if English is ignored or less valued. These three types of power render the receiver (people from periphery counties) submissive and to the Center. Phillipson concludes that discourse analysis of English linguistic imperialism can show the interrelatedness of these arguments.

Phillipson (2016) compares arguments and claims of two texts written in different periods of time to find similarities between them. These text are ‘Minute on Indian Education’ by

Thomas Babington Macaulay in 1835 and English Next India, by David Graddol (2010). He con-cludes that the type and the nature of arguments in both texts are similar. For example, both have the same part of departure, (“India needs English”), both refer to local languages as inappropriate for academic usage, and both consider English as a universal langue, a basic skill. In short, both text glorify and rationalize English by a set of intrinsic, extrinsic and functional arguments. One of Graddol’s biggest claim is that India will fall behind the world if the country does not start to teach English language skills from an earlier stage in schools. This statement can be seen as a perfect example of stick (structural power, functional argument) which reminds the audience the consequences of not paying enough attention to learning the English language.

Likewise, Pennycook (1998) finds out particular representations and images of English learners, colonies, and English teachers in an us versus them framework. He notes that English was argued for from an Anglicist point of view in the former colonies. Common discourse in-volved an exaggerated glorification of English and degradation and under-treatment of local lan-guages and culture. His claim is that even the postcolonial arguments of English contain images that were constructed during colonialism. For example, images of the other (learners) has fixity, they are described as “lazy”, “passive”,“imitative”, “child-like”, “feminine” who lack originality (pp. 58, 65). Similarly, negative construction of the countries are highlighted; dirt, poverty, and crowd are shown as norms (p. 64). Backwardness is another word that reoccurs in the descrip-tion of the other. What is more, local learning practices are looked down upon and considered ineffective. All these perceptions echo down to the present and shape ideologies. Interestingly,

Anglicism interlocked with discourses of liberal humanism and civilization. Pennycook notes that Anglicist discourses resurface in the language policies of the neocolonial era every now and then.

Old descriptions about English and predications of its future had a celebratory and triumphalist tone. As a matter of fact, today’s liberal and neutral description is no different. Pennycook argues that these discourses are not neutral or free of the traditional East and West, and self and other dichotomies. Current discourses characterizing the self and other in dichotomies are actually the cultural constructs of colonialism.

Another important issue is who uses these arguments. In fact, both Center and the Periph-ery elites do so. Ideas are more often used instead of carrots and sticks which signifies the so-phistication of the arguments. By soso-phistication, Phillipson means that the work of the seller or

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the Center is made simpler since people are persuaded to believe that using and learning English is good for them. In this process, the seller “appears as helping or doing aid rather than forcing or bargaining with the victim”. According to Marianne Gronemeyer (1992), helping is the “elegant way of exerting power” (as cited in Clarke, 2012, p. 22). In ELT, the intention to help teachers can be seen as “expressing a desire to colonize them” (p. xviii). Ironically, in the helping process, the helper benefits. This process perpetuates inequality and positions the helper higher in the power relations. Ultimately, the helpee does not revolve to become an agent to question the un-equal relationship which renders him/her powerless. This practice is referred to as

rationaliza-tion, in which the helping ideology legitimizes the exploitative relationship between the helper

and helpee. Stigmatization and rationalization finally lead to the glorification of English as the must-learned language and the initial requirement for employment. It can also operate in a re-verse manner. Likewise, the seller claims to be neutral and non-political. Moreover, English is referred to as an instrument. Phillipson believes that describing English as an instrument focuses on it as means (what English is) which is different from the purpose of English (what English has and does).

Apparently, ELT is one of the contexts in which claims and all three types of arguments about the English languages are mostly articulated. Additionally, ELT is believed to be of the biggest means through which the dominance of English is asserted. Phillipson claims that the creation of ELT was a step forward to creating a ‘professionalism’ that serves the interest of the Center. Tenets through which ELT operates is problematic. They are made by the native speakers and place great demand for native speakers. In this way, it increases the dependence of the Pe-riphery to the Centre which exemplifies colonial ideology by consolidating the dominance of both English and its speakers. In the context of ELT, one can also find fixed aforementioned di-chotomous representation of East and West. In other words, every positive aspect about the West (the self) is emphasized positively while the East (the other) is constructed negatively in every aspect.

Many scholars dwell on the notion of hegemony and its relation to ELT practices. English and ELT practices are hegemonic if they support the ideology of dominant group(s) and if their dominance is overlooked and evaluated uncritically. Sometimes there is no choice but to learn English provided that it is a compulsory subject because and the state education system supports it. There hardly exists any literature on the hegemony of English before the 1980s (Tsuda, 2011). However, later on, a great number of researchers have become concerned with the topic and ex-amined the influence of it theoretically or empirically. Some prominent works include Macedo, Dendrinos, & Gounari (2016), Tsuda (2011), Yoo and Namkung (2012), Modiano (2001), and Nye (1990). Here I outline some of them. (moved from ELH part, paragraph one)

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2. 4. Neo-Imperialism?

It is usually claimed that ELT project is for the benefit of the Periphery countries since it can help them take part in the globalized world. Great emphasis on ELT indirectly paves the way for Educational Imperialism (EI), that is, importing western models and examples from the Cen-ter to Periphery. Here, the Cen-term professionalism comes into play, the function of which is three-fold: institutional transfer, training and education, and the diffusion of occupational ideologies (p. 62). The Professionalism of ELT, Phillipson argues, operates in an alike manner: (1) the un-derdeveloped countries educational curriculum is organized based on Western models, (2) ELT’s activities are central about education and training, (3) and the hidden aim is transferring ideolo-gy. Ironically, what is overlooked in the whole process is the Periphery countries’ needs. Phillip-son mentions an additional aspect of cultural imperialism, that is, Periphery agents are supposed-ly not passive but active decision-makers with some degree of freedom. However, things are mainly controlled by the Center.

Drawing on Altbach’s ideas, Phillipson defines the hegemony of the English language through theories of neoimperialism, which denote controlling through means other than force and military power. Phillipson claims that neo-imperialism is …. the present day form of imperi-alism”. The dependency of Periphery to Center is great especially with regards to education. This “indicates the prevailing structure is imperialist” (p. 71). The history of aid agencies proves that they had immense difficulty in recognizing problems of the local communities and finding solu-tions for them (Phillipson 1992, p. 63). However, whether their English teaching plans succeed or fail, once English becomes a medium of education it can have structural and cultural implica-tions. Structural in a sense that it shapes social practice in the domains of education, employment and community relations. Cultural in a sense that it creates norms and values for the classroom and shapes attitudes towards different languages (Phillipson 1992, p. 64).

Agencies of both powers were active in Afghanistan before the civil wars (the 1990s). Five volunteers of the Peace Corps first came there in 1962. By the time they left, their number reached over two hundred volunteers (Irwin & Irwin, 2014). Two years later, the British Council established itself in Kabul with the overt aim of developing relationship and teaching English to Afghanistanis. The Civil War and the Taliban period forced both agencies to leave the country for security reasons. Several years later, the US military invasion brought them back. The British Council reopened in 2002 and the US began English teaching activities through their Embassy. AUAF is the US biggest institution for teaching English.

The US invasion of Afghanistan attracted thousands other NGOs to move in. On the one hand, it created great demand for English translators to national languages in order for foreigners to communicate with their Afghanistani counterparts, on the other hand, it encouraged a large number of youth to learn English in order to seek employment with foreign troops and NGOs as

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a career choice. Dramatically, the use of English language in governmental and NGO events, conferences and talks became the need of the hour. A number of print newspapers such as the

Voice of Freedom and Kabul Times started promoting bilingualism (Pashto and English or

Per-sian and English) writing the same text in two languages in the same page. Some other domestic newspapers like Outlook and Afghanistan Express were entirely English. While they were all de-pendent on foreign donations for their longevity, they certainly normalized the usage of English language in Afghanistan.

In schools, students suddenly started feeling the invisible pressure to learn English. Tak-ing private English language courses became talk of the town among youth servTak-ing them as a short-cut to employment. Moreover, the teaching of English language as a school subject shifted from seventh grade to fourth grade, while fourth grade students can hardly read and write in their native language in Afghanistan. Furthermore, ex-President Hamid Karzai’s suggestion about adopting English as the language of instruction in medical and engineering colleges shocked Kabul university students and staffs (BBC Persian, 2012). Meanwhile, certain private universi-ties were consequently founded with either having English language as their main language of instruction like the American University of Afghanistan or as one of the two languages of in-struction like Kardan and Dunya institutes of higher education. While most of these changes were taking place in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, the situation in the rest of the country was not very different from the past.Yet, Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries with one of the lowest literacy rates and weak educational infrastructures in Asia, where very few people can afford college fees of private universities and very limited number of people can speak and un-derstand English language properly.

The literature reviewed for this paper has covered the role of English in numerous East-ern countries. However, Afghanistan is not a case study in any of them. Crystal (2001) mentions the name of Afghanistan only once and links it with the role of the military in the spread of Eng-lish pinpointing the following open question: “is it likely that an EngEng-lish-language presence of a few months, or even years, would have a long-term influence on local language awareness?” (p. 106). Indeed, the military intervention of the US reintroduced English in Afghanistan but it is the presence of some international organizations that have increased the demand for English in the country. What arguments and images of English are embedded in the publication of these agen-cies will be explored in this paper. Do their discourses embody any traditional stance? Are there traces of colonial us versus them dichotomies? And Finally, can one call the presence of English in Afghanistan hegemonic? Finding answer for such questions requires Critical Discourse Analy-sis. The approach is described in length in Chapter Two.  

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Chapter Three

Analytical Framework

3.1. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) refers to an analytical framework, a research method, or a “body of work” (Simpson and Mayr, 2010, p. 51) that studies language within its different social contexts and brings forth the hidden ideological meanings (intentional or unintentional). It aims to “understand, expose and … resist social inequality” (Van Dijk, as cited in O’Halloran, 2003, p. 11) Historically, CDA originates from Critical Linguistics (CL), which in turn draws on Critical Theory. According to Critical Linguistics, texts contain ideology which has the power to control readers mind and can only be demystified by a through a structural systematic analysis of text by applying a set of linguistic procedures. For instance, one can interpret the missing of by-phrases in passive constructions as a way to conceal the doer of an action which can have ideo-logical consequences. Simpson and Mayr (2010) states that a single unified approach towards CDA is lacking. Consequently, several approaches to CDA have been developed. In fact, each approach pays more attention to one particular aspect of the discourse. CDA is multidisciplinary and problem-oriented in nature and attributes equal importance to both linguistic units and the social phenomena.

Critique, power, ideology, and discourse are important inter-related concepts within CDA. The first term, critique, is a crucial one. Overall, in any research methodology, the concept implies situating data in the social context in order to find “political positioning of

discourse” (Wodak & Meyer, 2009, p 87). Different types of critique have different aims. In CDA, criticism is done with the aim to produce awareness or knowledge that can help combating ideology and unequal power relations. As Wodak & Meyer (2009) emphasis that the purpose of criticism in CDA is not only understanding and explaining society but also changing society. In short, inspired by Critical Theory, CDA transfers critical knowledge aimed at emancipation elighqment and self liberation from domination and abuse.

The second concept, power, also is conceptualized differently by various scholars. Wodak & Meyer (2009) outline three main approaches to power. Weber defines power a “chance” that an individual can achieve. French and Raven (1959) see resources of social actors central to the achievement of power. Their conclusion is inline with Phillipson description English Extrinsic arguments that originates from the resource power that English posses. CDA sees power the way it is theorized by Foucault, who is known to be the ‘godfather’. He regards power as a “systemat-ic and constitutive” feature of society (Wodak & Meyer, 2009, p. 9). Foucault sees power depen-dent on knowledge since, he believes that knowledge in itself is produced and maintained

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through power structures. For him, power is more than just the result of achieving chance and possessing resources, but he overall structure. CDA researcher believe that the language of those in power have typical feature that produce, legitimize and perpetuate inequalities. Analyzing power (which is mostly invisible) helps in reveling the dynamics of control in modern societies.

The third concept central for CDA is ideology. In Althusser’s theory, ideology receives a completely new definition and characteristics. Like language, ideology works as a filter in our relationships with the outside world. Althusser further links ideology to Freud’s notion of the ‘unconscious’ and says that we, as subjects, perform according to the dominant ideology as the result of the internalization of certain principles perceived as normal or natural. For example, we remind ourselves to be feminine or masculine and perform it accordingly. Adhering to such ide-ology is thus unconscious (Walton, 2012). Likewise, Van Dijk (1998) refers to ideide-ology as a “shared framework of social beliefs” or “the basis of social representations shared by members of group” that organize and shape social actions and interpretations of a group and control power relations between them (p.8). Ideology is seen as “one-sided world view” that helps the estab-lishment of hegemonic discourses and unequal power relationships by functioning as a gatekeep-er or filtgatekeep-er between us and the world. (Reisigl & Wodak, 2009, p. 88).

The last and the most crucial concept in CDA is discourse itself. According to Foucault, discourse includes the production of knowledge, ideology and the use of power, which mediates between human beings and the outside world and consequently prevent them from accessing the truth even about their own selves. There is a deeper level of truth which is concealed from us by discourse. Wodak and Meyer (2009) explain how CDA perceives discourse. For them, discourse is both the use of language in texts and talks as well as “a form of social practice” (p. 5). Dis-course and society are in a dialectical relationship; disDis-course is framed by society and meanwhile shapes social actions and behaviors. It contributes to the maintenance of status quo, the creations of social relationships between groups, and the legitimization of illegitimate power. Most impor-tantly, discourse has structural and ideological implications such as producing categorical divi-sion between the majority and minorities (pp. 7-88).

As can be seen, the influence of CT and CL has been profound on CDA. Since its emer-gence, the method has been widely applied to a variety of genres in various disciplines. Fari-clough (2001) explains what accounts for the great fascination with the study of language in the postmodern society. He sees CDA as “part of the general self-consciousness about language” (p. 230). Turning now to the context of Afghanistan, discourses on English in the publications of the British Council and the American University of Afghanistan will be studied through CDA. CDA is preferred for conducting this study for two reasons. Firstly, the method has a critical dimension aiming at creating emancipatory knowledge and awareness. Secondly, it has been the main ap-proach of most scholars involved in the critical study of the English language. In this study, I use

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a combination of two famous approaches towards CDA namely: Discourse Historical-Approach (DHA) and Socio-cognitive approach. The next two subsections give an overview of both these approaches and will determine how they will be used to analyze the data.

3.2. The Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA)

The DHA is one of the focal approaches toward CDA developed by Ruth Wodak. As the name suggests, the historical context of the phenomenon under investigation plays an important role in the analysis. Another aspect that differentiates this approach is that its methodology is de-veloped as such that brings the issue of identity construction and discrimination into focus. The DHA aims at “demystifying the hegemony” hidden in discourse by looking at linguistic forms through which ideology is transferred and power is legitimized (Reisigl & Wodak, 2009, p. 87) Within this approach, discourse is defined as “a cluster of context-dependent semiotic practices that are situated within specific fields of social actions” (p. 89). This approach maintains that dis-course is multifaceted and linked to other related disdis-courses. This aspect of disdis-course is called

Interdiscursivity (Reisigl & Wodak, 2009, p. 90). The role of context in the DHA is of high

sig-nificance that takes text-internal immediate context, “extra-linguistic social variables”, and the overall socio-historical and sociopolitical contexts into consideration (p. 93).

As an analytical tool, Reisigl and Wodak (2009) propose three main dimensions and five macro strategies for analyzing texts. These three dimensions of analysis include 1) the identifica-tion of topic 2) the investigaidentifica-tion of strategies and 3) the explanaidentifica-tion of ‘linguistic means’ as well as ‘context-dependent linguistic realization (p. 93). The investigation of the strategies is an at-tempt to answer five principle questions. The first question answers how social actors or phe-nomena are discursively constructed (nomination strategy). Linguistic devices such as deictics, metaphors, and synecdoches are used to decode this strategy. The second step is to find out what qualities are attributed to social actors and phenomena (predication strategy). One way to do so is to look at the adjectives, collocations, and smilies used to describe things or people. The third question seeks to reveal fallacies and contradictions of a particular discourse which are justified as truths (argumentations strategy). The fourth question answers from which perspective nomina-tion, predicanomina-tion, and argumentation are articulated (perspectivization strategy). At last, the fifth question asks how certain elements are intensified or mitigated? (intensification and mitigation strategy). This strategy is realized by linguistic means such as the use of direct or indirect speech and quotation marks. Devices such as diminutives or augmentatives, hyperboles, subjunctive ex-pression help the realization of the final strategy employed by a speaker in a given text (pp. 93-94).

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3.3 Socio-cognitive Approach (SCA)

Discourse can be manipulative. Van Dijk develops principles for the study of the manipulative aspects of ideology. His approach is called socio-cognitive since it studies the functions of cogni-tion in social representacogni-tion of groups (Van Dijk, 1998). Ideologies embedded in discourse ac-cording to van Dijk affect group relationships. Van Dijk’s developed model for analyzing ideolo-gy is called “ideological square”, which is based on four principles: “to emphasize positive things about Us, to emphasize negative things about Them and to

de-Table 1. Summary of DHA’s five discursive strategies (Reisigl & Wodak, 2009, p. 94)

Strategy Objective Devices

Nomination discursive construction of social actors, objects, phenomena, events and processes, actions

• verbs and nouns used to denote processes and actions,

• memmbership categorization de-vices, deictics etc.

• tropes such as metaphors, metonymies and synecdoches Predication Discursive qualification of social

actors, objects, phenomena, events and processes, actions positively or negatively

• stereotypical, evaluative attribu-tions of negative positive traits (in the form of adjective, relative cause etc).

• explicit predication or predicative nouns, adjectives, pronouns, col-locations,

• explicit comparisons, similies, metaphors and other rhetorical figures

• allusion, evocations, presupposi-tions

argumentation Justification and questioning of claims of truth and normative right-ness

• topoi • fallacies Perspectivization, framing or

dis-coure représentation positioning speakers or writers point of view and expressing involvement or distance

• deictics

• direct, indirect, free indirect speech

• quotation marks, discourse mark-ers, particles

• metaphors Intensification, mitigation modifying (intensifying or

mitigat-ing) the illocutionary force and thus the epistemic or denotes status of utterances

• diminutives or augmentatives • (modal) particle, tag question, subjunctive, hesitation, vague expression

• hyperboles

• indirect speech acts (e.g question instead of assertion)

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emphasize negative things about Us, to de-emphasize positive things about Them” (as cited in Jahedi, Abdullah, & Mukundan, 2014, p. 33). A certain text is ideological if these typical rep-resentations of the self and the other come along. Strategies of SCA partly overlaps with that of DHA. However, the focus of van Dijk’s approach remains primarily on how power is exercised “in or by discourse” and how the context of texts are dominated by the ideologies of the ruling groups (Wodak & Meyer, 2009, p. 28). In addition, while the DHA is interested in studying the (historical) development and the formation of various discourses, SCA mainly investigates courses that are ‘unjust’. Van Dijk (2009) comes up with two basic criteria to identify unjust dis-courses. A particular discourse, according to him, is unjust firstly, if “it violates the recognized human rights of people” and secondly if it “contributes to the social inequality” (p. 63).

Ideologies expressed through discourse can be realized by some linguistic means (Van Dijk, 2000). Some linguistics indicators are stress and intonation, word order, lexical style, co-herence, disclaimer, topic choice, speech act, schematic organization, rhetoric figures and syntac-tic structures (Wodak & Meyer, 2009, pp. 28-29). For example, influenced by ideology, actors can get positive or negative attributes and descriptions through a specific use of lexicons. The positive and negative aspects are defined by focusing on whether a certain discourse fragment carries ideological meaning or not. Moreover, they are also determined by examine whether they carry any kind of value and are value-free. Such descriptions can be precise or vague, general or specific, implicit or explicit. Moreover, categorization of actors can lead to in-group and out-group polarization in terms of us versus them. Sentence structure can be used as a strategy to de-emphasize positive and negative agency. Texts may contain argumentation structures based on stereotypes without any clear reference. Authorities are usually mentioned to support certain ar-guments. In short, the general strategy of discourse organization can be summarized as “positive self-presentation (boasting) and negative other-presentation (derogation)” (Van Dijk, 2000, p. 126).

3.4. Current Study

I will conduct this study following Reisigl and Wodak (2009)’s three-dimensional model. My aim is to find instances of their proposed strategies in texts that either directly or indirectly concern the English language in Afghanistan. A reason for choosing the DHA among various ap-proaches of conducting CDA is threefold. Firstly, it provides a concrete analytical tool for the analysis of discourse. Secondly, it allows for the incorporation of the historical context, which can prove beneficial for studying the development of discourse about English in Afghanistan. And finally, the first two strategies of the DHA (nomination and predication), identify social ac-tors and their attributed qualities which form the basis for the application of the principles of “ideological square”. Likewise, van Dijk’s model of “ideological square” will help me find out

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how ideology is at work in the way English is propagated in Afghanistan. The two last macro strategies of the DHA (the strategy of perspectivization, mitigation and intensification), aims to find the underlying ideology. At this point, the two selected approaches show overlap

3.4.1.

Data Collection and Preparation

Articles analyzed for this study were searched for on Google, Google Scholar and then separately on the websites of the British Council, the US Embassy, VOA news, BBC and (AUAF). Every article which discussed English in Afghanistan — even once — was down-loaded. I preferred digital data for this study because of their easy accessibility. Including print materials was unpractical due to time and place limitations. As an initial collection criterion, only articles written in English were selected. Finally, a total of 22 articles were retrieved. The col-lected data became prepared for the detailed analysis after they were downsized according to cri-teria such as “frequency, representativity, (porto) typicality…influence, uniqueness and redun-dancy” (Reisigl & Wodak, 2009, p. 98). After the application of the inclusion-exclusion criteria, only fourteen texts qualified for further analysis, six from the British Council websites, six from AUAF website and two news articles from VOA and BBC news. Text from these two news agencies were selected for analysis since they represent the British Council and AUAF stances. They actively take part in the promotion of English in Afghanistan and propagating ideology by through publishing articles and news reports. Adhering to a specific genre was not a criterium in both stages. Text genres include autobiographies, students writings and testimonies, news arti-cles, policy, mission and vision statements, and education reports. Sticking to only one genre was not a choice since there were not enough texts available online from one specific genre. Three texts retrieved from AUAF website were University Yearbooks which included (Afghanistani) students’ biographies, articles, and testimonies. They were regarded important data for this study to examine the hegemonic aspect of used discourses.

3.5.2. Analysis

A free trail of a quantitative data analysis software, Atlas, was used to organize and cate-gorize the data. Despite its limitations (trail version), the software allowed for various layers of systematic analysis which was the aim of my project. As the initial exploration, discourse topics (what the discourse is about) were identified in each retrieved article. Subsequently, to guide my first layer of analysis, I tried to answer the following two questions: 1) What is the discourse do-ing? 2) How is the discourse constructed to do this? (Paulus & Lester, 2017). I therefore, ex-plored whether a certain segment or unit of analysis is glorifying and rationalizing English or stigmatizing the native language and culture. Those segments were coded accordingly. After-wards, I specified (using codes) what strategies from the five macro strategies of DHA were used

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to achieve those aims. At this stage, firstly, I focused on the nomination and predication strate-gies to find out what categories of social actors and phenomena are constructed by the text and which category is absent. Secondly, I examined arguments and claims about English to identify the “fallacies and topoi” that are used as justifications. I finally looked for the strategy of per-spectivization, intensification and mitigation. Each of the relevant instances were assigned codes.

For the second layer of my analysis, I once again reviewed my analysis units to find in-stances of ideology in them. After the codification process was done, specific discourse frag-ments were first listed and then interpreted within their socio-historical contexts according to the theories discussed in Chapter One. Van Dijk’s four principles of “ideological square” were used for the interpretation of the ideological consequence of the discursive constructions and argu-mentation schemes found in the texts. In sum, each five of the discursive strategies in the texts were investigated, analyzed and interpreted with a special attention to their ideological implica-tions and consequences.

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Chapter Four: Findings

4.1 Nomination and predication strategies

The texts construct certain social groups, objects, places, and institutions discursively. The most important of them are the British Council, AUAF teachers and students, and Af-ghanistan. Figure 1, represents the summary of general predications assigned to these particular actors. With regard to the first two macro strategies, two main things can be observed in the arti-cles dealing with AUAF (VOA News article and AUAF Yearbooks). Firstly, characteristics as-signed to the university are abundant in number compared to the characteristics asas-signed to any other social actor. Secondly, the assigned characteristics are either neutral or positive. The “pri-vate, not government-owned” nature of the university specially designed to “strengthen English language skills” can be seen as neutral description. Some other characteristics assigned to the university are neutral but have positive connotations. For instance, the collocation “Western-style education” or more specifically “American-style curriculum” adds a lot to the value and prestige of the university. Positive qualifications of the university are the following: it provides world-class education, serves the need of Afghanistan, “contribute[s] to progress and prosperity,” pre-pares students for international jobs, produces “future leaders,” promotes democracy and secures Afghanistan’s future by “restoring intellectual capital”. Moreover, evaluative attributions of posi-tive traits are also evident in the form of adjecposi-tives such as “outstanding”, “best”, “great”, “per-fect”, and “best-equipped”. At last, the university campus is defined by positive means as well. It is described “a safe place for women” empty of any kind of ethnic biases and gender prejudice.

AUAF teachers and students are also discursively constructed by similar means. AUAF students are always referred to as the “future leaders” of the country, critical thinkers, “intellec-tual elites of the country”, “the brains of the future”, “the most determined, brave, enthusiastic and interesting young men and women”. They are “equipped with essential knowledge and ana-lytical skills”. The collocation “future leader” re-occurs in the texts extensively. Within this group, separate positive attributes are assigned to female students. They are identified as “out-standing young women” who gain “self-worth” and confidence as the result of acquiring West-ern-style (English) education - a characteristic they lacked before becoming a student at AUAF. Likewise, AUAF teachers are described as experienced, professional and academic personalities. “Friendly” is another common attribute associated with them. They are described as well-wishers “who have left their native lands for the chance to make a difference to the people of

Af-ghanistan”. In short, not much negative qualities were found in the discursive construction of AUAF, its students, and teachers.

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Texts dealing with the activities of the British Council construct the agency in a similar fashion. The British Council is described as an international organization providing English edu-cation in Afghanistan. It is referred to as a trustworthy, independent, and powerful agency which, like AUAF, “provide opportunities for emerging Afghan leaders and influencers, to help in their efforts to stabilize and develop Afghanistan”. The country that it represents, the United King-dom, is displayed as “the world leader in teaching English”. Moreover, it is mentioned multiple times that the British Council has the expertise to solve educational problems of the region and Afghanistan. In one instance, the victim image of the agency is evoked because its headquarter was once attacked by the Taliban in Kabul. Despite that, they restarted their work. This incident is invoked to manifest the determination of the agency in fulfilling their humanitarian actions.

In contrast, traits used to describe Afghanistani people, culture, history and educational practices hold negative connotations. Afghanistan is constructed as a country in the phase of economic transformation which “needs guidance from a professionally trained cadre of business leaders, in both public and private sectors, to ensure a stable future”. We also learn that the coun-ty “demand[s] a skilled workforce” who has the knowledge of English and can partake in global communications. The collocation “emerging country” re-surfaces occasionally. Historically, the country is associated with its immediate past, the Taliban era. The description of the present al-ways entails a comparison with the past as a strategy to legitimize the US-lead intervention. At one instance, the past is defined as “the long dark days ... when schools were shuttered and the Afghan educational system all but completely destroyed”. Furthermore, the place is called a misogynist, male-dominated, society “where women were once denied access to education”. The fact that girls are “limited to gender-stratified roles” is exaggerated. Most negative predications are assigned to Afghanistan’s education system. The positive construction of the Western-style education gives implicit reference to local educational practices and regards them less effective and outdated. The legal system of Afghanistan is identified as “underdeveloped” and “ambigu-ous”. According to the British Council, Afghanistan is also a poor country where minority lan-guages are at risk and need protection. The only positive thing mentioned about Afghanistan is its products such as organic chicken, potatoes and 32 varieties of melon.

Explicit references to the English language surface more in the publication of the British Council. Once again, all labels and qualities assigned to English are positive. Two common la-bels of English were found in the texts, namely English as medium of education and English as an imperial language in places where linguistic diversity is a problem. In one instance, it is called the ‘forbidden language’ to underplay the powerful position of English today. It is also re-ferred to as the “gateway to a better future”. It is a language that Afghanistan needs at the mo-ment, a language that which can have an impact on the national and individual levels. On the one hand, English increases the chances of employability of Afghanistanis, and on the other hand, it

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helps Afghanistan to re-emerge as a prosperous country by enabling people to gain access to sci-ence and technology. English is assigned prominsci-ence as the result of the widespread need and demand for it. In sum, English is seen to be the best solution for Afghanistan’s ethnic conflict over linguistic matters.

Figure 2. a summary of nomination and Predication Strategies

Social actor Predications

AUAF - Text 11: world class education, Americans-style university, outstanding, make leaders, professional, up-to-date facilities,

- Text 5: contribute to the progress and prosperity of the country

- Text 10: producing future generations of leaders, the best university in Af-ghanistan, widely accepted as the best, have a long waiting list, constantly approached by outside organizations, have impressive future, has gained wide interest, serve the needs of all Afghanistan, prepare for domestic and international jobs, transform lives

- Text 13: Private, not government-owned, designed to strengthen students' English-language and study skills

- Text 9:AUAF must be more than an academic institution, the country’s premier institution for higher education, part of the cultural and social fab-ric of Afghan society, a safe place for women

- Text 7: Its curriculum follows the American liberal arts, instilled self- worth in female students, essential for a well functioning democracy, AUAF graduates surely will someday occupy position, has no prejudice, male students accept the females. It’s great, the perfect place, one of the unsung effort undertaken in Afghanistan, making Kabul and Afghanistan by restoring intellectual capital, play a central role in securing Af-ghanistan’s future, AfAf-ghanistan’s best-equipped universities.

AUAF teachers - Text 10: most of whom have left their native lands for the chance to make a difference to the people of Afghanistan

- Text 7: have international experience and most have PhDs. They are friendly with students

Afghanistan - Text 10: In economic transformation, needs guidance from a professional-ly trained cadre of business leaders, in both the public and private sector, to ensure a stable future, has an underdeveloped legal system, needs econom-ic growth to lead In Afghanistan, women were once denied access to edu-cation, Many cannot reach their dreams of education problems,

- Text 5: Had conflicted past, an emerging country,

- Text 9: a male dominated society, have so many great products, Girls gen-erally don’t have a lot of resources or mentors inside the home, or in their families, and they are usually limited to gender stratified roles

- Text 7: had long hard days, schools were closed and education destroyed - Text 1: poor, demand a skilled workforce, has a bad education system, fail

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4. 2. Argumentation Strategies

The nomination and predication strategies also reflect the texts’ argumentation scheme. English-functional arguments and English-extrinsic arguments are present throughout the texts. They are mainly used to persuade the audience. However, claims are not supported by enough plausible reasons. Therefore, they can be referred to as fallacies. Claims in the analyzed texts can be divided into three types; claims of truth, claims trustfulness and claims of normative rightness. For instance, the texts make claims of truth about the ‘importance’ of English and the

Western-The English Language - Text 5: essencial for Afghanistan to re emerge as a country

- Text 6: brings development, neutral language in a particular multilingual context, a needed language for employability, a medium of instruction, have impact on national and individual level, is demanded by many, impor-tant for tourism, provide access to world, an imperial language has values in enabling access to science

- Text 14: shortcut to development, key for the future AUAF female

stu-dents - Text 10: outstanding young women - Text 7: “Western style education has instilled self- worth in female students which they state is not available anywhere else in the country”.

The British Council - Text 9: a problem solver of education in south Asia, attacked by the terror-ists a victim of good well, helping the generation of next Afghan leaders, trustworthy, UK: the world leader in teaching English,

- Text 1: support the development of 'English Skills for Employability'. - Text 4: victim of terrorist attack, helping to develop the next generation of

Afghan leaders, create links with the UK and provide opportunities for emerging Afghan leaders and influencers, to help in their efforts to stabi-lize and develop Afghanistan, trustworthy

AUAF students - Text 11: critically, meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world, be competitive with graduates of other,

- Text 10: critical to the future of Afghanistan, exceptional leaders, talented and ambitious, concerned about the future of their country, they shape the future of their countries, the future leader.

- Text 9: the intellectual elites of our country, the brains of the future. - Text 7: contribute to the development of Afghanistan, the most

deter-mined, brave, enthusiastic and interesting young men and women,

equipped with essential knowledge and analytical skills, take leading roles both in their communities and chosen professions, exposed to new ideas and are made to work together regardless of ethnicity, aware of the benefit of women’s political position and the importance of diversity, exposed to the importance of ethics being integrated into every aspect of their lives.

Figure 2. a summary of nomination and Predication Strategies

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style secular education for Afghanistan’s stable future. Moreover, there are truth claims about various ‘causes’ of the bad educational system in the country. Truth claims about the ‘necessity’ of the implementation of the initiatives taken by AUAF and the British Council are present in almost every article. Another set of argument contain ‘claims of normative rightness’. This in-cludes statements that justify claims made by these two agencies for being morally right. And finally, trustfulness claims in these texts are expressed in an attempt to gain people’s trust. In these claims, they profile themselves as the perfect organization for the task they assigned them-selves to. The following quotation is an example of the first type of claim made in an article enti-tled the importance of English in South Asia's job market.

“There’s a a clear need and demand for English. But a first-hand under-standing of how English can benefit individuals and nations would help skills sectors design policies and strategies that would provide better value for money. We hope that this research will help the UK and South Asia understand how they can work together to share knowledge, ex-pertise and experience” (Text 1).

The first sentence of this quotation constructs both the ‘need’ and the ‘demand’ for English as an absolute reality. The rest of the quotation, however, discusses the rightness of the involvement of the British Council in providing access to English language skills. Moreover, the article takes India as an example to demonstrate the need for English in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Such generalizations make their claim fallacious since the mentioned countries’ needs and their socio-economic conditions vary from one another. In other articles of the British Council similar claims can be found but on different topics.

“A lack of English skills in Afghanistan has been identified as a major barrier to youth entering the labour force. Observational evidence has also shown that access to education and attainment can help to limit participation in militancy or extremism. As religious scholars play a central role in education, there remains a need for a strong community of Islamic teachers and students to be equipped with English lan-guage, communication, and critical thinking skills.Therefore, the English for Afghans programme will focus its efforts in three areas: supporting English in schools, within the civil service, and for reli-gious leaders” (Text 5).

A linguistic analysis of this passage brings attention to many issues. The truth claim about the lack of English skills preventing Afghanistan from becoming international has no ref-erence. At a first glance, the second sentence seems to function as an argument or support for the

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first sentence however it is not. The observational evidence is not about the lack of English skills but about the importance of education in decreasing extremism. Even though, lack of access to English and lack of access to education are two different things, they are used interchangeably. Furthermore, the text hides the agent in the passive voice by omitting the by-phrase. All this un-derestimates the validity of the argument. Thirteen other instances of truth claims with regard to English and English medium higher education at AUAF found in the texts are listed below.

1. The Afghan government and people recognize that Education, including English, is criti-cal to their country's development. The UK is recognized as a world leader in the teach-ing of English, and we will look to brteach-ing about a transformational change in the provi-sion of English teaching in Afghanistan – which in turn will help Afghans transform their country” (Text 4).

2. “The founding of AUAF represented a critical step in the effort to lead Afghanistan into an era of freedom and opportunity. institution like this one will play a central role in se-curing Afghanistan’s future” (Text 7).

3. “At AUAF issues of ethnicity, race and religion are seriously banned which makes us equal. I don’t like to be called Pashtun, Hazara, or Tajik or any other ethnicity I am citi-zen of the world and an Afghan (Text 4)”

4. “… It is essential that we properly understand the role that English plays and will play. For many jobs, communication skills in English are in increasing demand. English is be-coming a ‘basic skill’, along with computer literacy” (Text 1).

5. “In previous decades when the Soviet Union was heavily involved in training and equip-ping the Afghan military, knowledge of Russian was considered a critical skill, But since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, Russian has been replaced by English”(Text 14). 6. “Learning English has become an important skill for members of the Afghan National…

This enables them to communicate with their trainers from different countries of the coalition and understand each other” (Text 14).

7. “It seems as if English has firmly established itself as the language of the future” (Text 14).

8. “The new economies demand a skilled workforce that can meet the demands of the 21st century. Governments in all countries have launched a range of initiatives to tackle the skills gap. Though all countries of the region are potentially facing a demographic divi-dend, many are warning that this may become a demographic disaster if these skills ini-tiatives fail” (Text 1).

9. “A broad-based liberal arts education better prepares students for an ever changing world. Perhaps the most important feature of the curriculum at AUAF is that it prepares students to think and solve problems” (Text 7).

10. “With Afghanistan on the cusp of economic transformation, the country needs guidance from a professionally trained cadre of business leaders, in both the public and private sector, to ensure a stable future” (Text 10).